It’s taking me a few days to get back in the groove of things. That lengthy to-do list yesterday went out the window. I slept all day. Hahaha!
Feeling like myself again today. Able to read the words out loud on television again. Yesterday, I sounded like mush.
One of the things my employer required me to do when I got back into the country was take a Covid test. Two of them, actually. The first, two days after I got back. The second, four days after. That’s today.
It’s one of those tests you take with a virtual proctor. A person on the other end of the phone watching you do it.
I actually got nervous taking the test on Sunday. So nervous that I screwed up the first test. Spilled the solution you dip the swab in.
The nurse was very nice. She felt sorry for me. Calmed me down.
My test was negative. Hoping for the same today.
Here’s the weird thing about taking that Covid test. Leading up to it, I felt like crap. After the negative result, I felt fine.
It’s not just me. The Washington Post has an interesting story about this very thing. What’s going on? The Post says it’s a mind-body thing.
“We have learned that social, emotional and behavioral factors influence health,” said Kaz Nelson, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Minnesota Medical School. “This mind-body connection is not to be underestimated. It’s real, and it’s very powerful.”
Let’s face it. We have lived the last two years of stress about Covid. Every cough, sneeze, sore throat makes you wonder.
I’m vaxxed and boostered. Soooo boostered that I’m embarrassed to tell you. Still, that little bit of doubt lingers. What if I get some omicron variant not yet discovered? One that is not covered by the vaccine?
The Post reports that the anxiety of getting Covid can activate your stress responses. Being positive or negative definitely has an impact on your life. Can you go in with things as usual or are you out of commission?
Kaz Nelson puts it this way: “Any time our brain is anticipating the consequences of something and then evaluating the threat and then attending to or focusing on that threat, that can actually influence the experience of the [physical] symptoms. When that threat is eliminated, then that actually leads to relief and a decrease in the sensitivity to the body and the symptoms.”
Truth be told here, I actually gave myself a Covid test before I had the proctored test on Sunday. I took another one on my own yesterday. So far, all negative.
Excessive? Maybe. Probably.
One more virtual Covid test today. Yep, I’ve got a stuffy nose again. Hoping for the best here. I’ll let you know.
Wonder if I will give myself a test before the virtual test with the nurse? Probably.